Then And Now
by ChristinaLacrima
Summary: Brittana through the years...i'm planning on comparing their relationship from when they started high school to when they're in their senior year: obviously not bound on what happens to glee since it is partly pre-glee.ON HIATUS...
1. Chapter 1

1

sooo... i wrote this story a few weeks ago and thought I'd post it. like i said in _What I Didn't Know:_ I'm still new at this...so have mercy. pleeease review and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: glee has never been and still is not mine. (I will not say will never be, cause i've made a lot of wishes on stars and eyelashes lately and at least one of them has to come true, right?^^)

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_September 8th, 2008 – First day of high school_

It was her first day of high school and she couldn't have been more nervous.

"Relax, honey! You're going to be just fine!" Teresa Lopez said in a calming voice.

"How would _you _know? Your first day of high school was _when_? Like a hundred years ago?" Santana didn't mean to talk back to her mum when she was being so supportive, but she couldn't help it. It had always been this way. When she got scared, she got defensive.

"Mija, I know you're nervous, but you're not going in alone, remember? You have Brittany after all!" and with that her mum turned around and finished packing Santana's lunch in a brown paper back like she had done all throughout middle school.

"MUM! _I can't bring a packed lunch to school! I'm not a baby anymore! I'm in high school now_! GOD!" Santana couldn't believe her mother. Was she _trying_ to ruin her daughter's life? As if facing your first day of high school wasn't difficult enough without a mother as a destructive force!

"Dios Mia! Even high school girls have to eat, sweety!"

"_Muhuuum!_" Santana whined, stomping her foot on the kitchen floor and balling her hands into fists to underline the importance of this one, crucial mistake her mother was about to make, that could possibly destroy her entire existence for the next four years.

"No honey! Stop it! You're taking your lunch. I won't have any of that anorexia nonsense!" Santana rolled her eyes. It was so like her mother to totally overreact .

"I'm not gonna go barf my brains out, ma!" She tried to explain to the older Latina. But it was no use.

"No more! You're taking it! Basta! Now… get your jacket! We have to go. You don't want to be late on your first day, do you?" Santana saw that there was no point in arguing anymore because her mother had this certain expression on her face and when she had that expression you better not argue with her!

She sighed overdramatically to at least show her mum that she wasn't giving up without protest and then ran up to her room to get her jacket. Even after her mum's little pep talk there, she was still a bit nervous. Although admittedly not as much. Her mum had pointed out _one_ important fact.

She wasn't going in alone. She _did_ have Brittany after all. And as long as she had Brittany, it was gonna be just fine.

* * *

Sooo? what do you think? more? ... again i ask: please review^^ cause: review equals happy christy (that's me)


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! So here's chapter two for you. It's still 'then'. but the next chapter will be 'now'. I'm thinking i will alternate between freshmen and senior year every two chapters. sound good? I want to thank all of you for reading my story and also ask you to: PLEASE REVIEW. It really makes me happy and helps me a lot, because otherwise i don't know if you guys like what i'm writing and i get writer's block cause i'm just a tiny bit insecure:D

disclaimer: don't own any of the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 2 (Then)**

_Still the first day of high school…_

She was finally here. High School!

Throwing her mum an absentminded wave goodbye as she drove away, wishing her good luck on her first day, Santana started off towards the school building. On her way there she passed the coolest people she had ever seen. _Seniors!_ They were standing a few feet away, huddled in small groups and leaning against their cars. _Their cars!_

_Oh man! I can't wait to have my own car and be able to drive to school myself, actually, to drive _anywhere_ myself. Britt and I will have sooo much fun! _Santana thought, as she watched some blond guy helping the most beautiful girl Santana had ever seen –except for Brittany of course - out of his silver convertible.

The girl was wearing a cheerleading uniform and was now giggling shrilly as the boy next to the one that had helped her out, pretended to challenge the blonde dude to a duel over her.

Santana noticed that the boys weren't the only ones staring at the girl and fighting for her attention. Two other girls dressed in cheerleading outfits had just joined the scene and were practically pushing each other to get to stand closest to her and one of them even seemed to ask if she could carry the beautiful blonde girl's purse for her.

Yes, they had purses. Santana looked down at the straps of her black and blue backpack she was holding in both of her hands. _Urgh! I should have thought of that! This is so totally lame! I look like a hitch-hiker!_

Frustrated by her obvious incapability to dress the part – the part being `coolest freshmen ever to have walked the halls of McKinley High' – Santana kept her eyes on the ground and shuffled forward in the general direction of the entrance. She was just leaving the parking lot and desperately cursing herself for having forgotten to tell Brittany when and where they would meet, when she heard roaring laughter to her left.

She looked up and saw Noah Puckerman and a few of his guy friends standing a few feet away. They were in a circle and hysterically laughing and pointing at something in the middle.

No, not something, _someone. _

"Brittany!" Santana ran over to where Brittany was standing between all those guys – most of whom she already knew from middle school – looking lost and confused. "What? I don't get it! …

Oh , hey , Santana!" The blonde's face lit up with joy and relief as she spotted her best friend pushing Finn aside to get to her.

"Get out of my way Hudson! Britt where were y…! _What_ are you _wearing?_" Just now had the Latina noticed what must be the reason for the boys' laughter.

Brittany was wearing an awful-looking, green and black school uniform that, to make the picture complete, was slightly too big for her, causing it to hang loosely around her body and her hands to vanish completely in the sleeves.

"_What?_" Brittany whimpered, high pitched and shaky. "Why are you all laughing at me? And why are none of you wearing your uniforms?"

Tears started to escape the blonde girl and Santana quickly hurried to her side, putting an arm protectively around her waist and pulling her away from the still sniggering group of freshmen boys.

When they were a few yards away, behind the wall of the closest building, Santana pulled Brittany into her arms for a short moment, to calm her down as she had started sniffling wildly.

"Ssh, ssh, there, there! It's okay, Britt. Those idiots are gone now!" Brittany squirmed out of the brunette's hug and looked at her friend's clothes. "Why aren't you wearing your uniform, San?"

Santana was confused. "Britt-Britt this high school doesn't have a uniform… and from what I've seen walking around here, I don't think they have a dress-code at all!"

The Blonde's face looked contorted in bewilderment and sadness. "What?"

"Yeah…there're no uniforms here. Why did you think there were, sweety?" Santana asked soothingly, rubbing Brittany's shoulders and trying to read her facial expression. Somewhere inside rang a bell, announcing the beginning of their first class.

"But…" she sniffled again "but Noah told me that there were! He said we all had to come in a uniform or they wouldn't even let us into the school." Her lower lip starting to quiver, Brittany's eyes were looking at Santana, not understanding what was happening.

Santana growled. "Puckerman_!" _

_I'm going to kill him! I'll slice him open and slowly rip his organs out one by one! _She could not believe that douche and his douchey friends still couldn't leave Brittany alone! Hadn't he learnt his lesson when she had kicked him in the nuts after he had pulled Brittany by the hair and called her a 'dummy-doll' last year?

Another one of Brittany's heart-wrenching sniffles brought Santana out of her murderous thoughts and back to her best friend standing in front of her, crying softly.

"Aaaw, sweety! Don't worry. He's an asshole! He just wanted to make fun of you! Hey, hey…but you showed him, huh!" She hugged Brittany tightly before releasing her and bowing her head to look into Brittany's somewhat red eyes, which were staring at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Brittany hiccupped. "I look stupid! And I don't even have time to go home and change!" she howled. Resting her head against Santana's shoulder Brittany mumbled into her best friend "I hate high school!"

Santana couldn't stand seeing Brittany like this and made a pact with herself to personally hunt those freakin' idiots down and give them a piece of her mind… and her new pepper spray her abuela had given her for her life in high school: 'para la protección contra la mala gente!'

Well Puckerman and his pack of Neanderthals were definitely bad people and she needed to protect Brittany.

Gently stroking Brittany's hair, Santana let out a little chuckle and said quietly.

"But Britt-Britt. You could never look stupid! And don't you dare change out of that. You look bitchin'! I mean it…you look great. It suits you. And anyway, have you seen what that freak Rachel Berry was wearing? Seriously. Next to her you could be wearing a spacesuit and people wouldn't notice!"

This elicited a muffled chuckle out of the blonde, who was still leaning against her best friend and when she looked up Santana was glad to see that she had stopped crying and that her eyes had that spark again.

"Thanks, Sanny! You're the best!" Brittany smiled. "You, too. Now let's get to class. I think our mums would probably not be too proud if we got detention on our first day of high school."

The two best friends sniggered and went around the corner towards the entrance.

When they had almost stepped inside, Santana shot one last look over the now empty parking lot and then to the big letters above their heads saying `McKinley High School'.

_Right. High School. Here we go…_

* * *

So, I hope you liked it. tell me what you think..._  
_


	3. Chapter 3

Like promised this chapter is `now':D their relationship has changed a bit (and simultaniously hasn't at all :D) since that first day of high school ;) i hope you like it! please R&R :) thanks!

Disclaimer: not mine ...YET (muhahahah)

* * *

Chapter 3 (Now)

_September 12th, 2011 - First day of Senior Year_

"Come oooon! Britt, what are you doing in there? Painting a Chihuahua onto your belly?" Santana called exhausted from outside Brittany's bathroom. They were going to be late for their first period of their final year of high school and as much as the Latina hated to admit it, she really did _not_ want to be late.

"Why would I do that?" Brittany's slightly muffled voice responded from inside the bathroom.

"I don't know... weren't you sayin' something about that on Saturday when we were watching that movie?" _Why the hell won't she let me inside? And what's taking so long?_

"What…oh! No, babe. I said I was thinking about _buying _a Chihuahua. You know, for Lord T, so he wouldn't be lonely while we're at school? He's gotten so used to the four of us hanging out!" Brittany giggled.

Santana rolled her eyes. The blonde was probably remembering the fun she and Quinn had had on said Saturday, playing with Lord Tubbington and completely ignoring the fact that Santana _might_ actually _not_ be so thrilled by their little game of "how-long-can-that-incredibly-fat-cat-stand-on-Santana's-head" as they both had seemed to be. At least the cat had been on her side and had decided to flee before round five.

"Oh, right. Okay, but Britt seriously then. What are you doing, `cause we're totally gonna miss first period if you don't get your sweet ass outta there like two minutes ago!" Leaning against the doorframe to Britt's bathroom, Santana impatiently started knocking again.

Santana heard something shuffle inside the bathroom and straightened up in case her girlfriend had decided to be kind enough to come outta there sometime before the earth stopped moving after all. But it seemed that Santana had no such luck, as Brittany remained behind the closed door and asked instead:

"God, Santana, would you relax? Why are you so hell-bent on showing up on time, anyway?"

Instead of answering, the beautiful Latina just groaned and let her head roll to the back of her neck and then from side to side. It wasn't that she hadn't understood Brittany's question...

She just didn't feel like telling her, that after coming out at the end of last year and feeling accepted for the first time in her life when their fellow glee-kids had reacted better than expected to this news – Kurt and Blaine had actually thrown her and Brittany a "welcome-to-the-club" party – and _then_ not seeing any of them – except for Quinn and unfortunately Artie – for their whole summer…

…she actually couldn't wait to see them again. Her _real_ friends.

"So why belly?" Brittany's voice drifted into Santana's thoughts. The brunette shook her head "What?"

"Why would you think I was painting the Chihuahua onto my _belly?_ Where did _that_ come from?"Brittany replied, sounding amused.

"Uuuhm…I don't know. No…wait! I do! Do you remember Quinn telling us something about getting her belly button pierced? Or was I already dreaming that part?" Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Santana tried to recall what had been said that night, to make her mind go to _belly_ earlier.

"Oh, yeah! Right, I remember I was totally flustered 'cause I thought she wanted to write 'Pierce' around her belly button and I was afraid that she might be in love with me. I still don't get why she had to laugh so hard at that, though. It's not that hard to believe, right? And anyway, I still think the idea is totally unicorn. I mean it wouldn't have to be my name. She could like write her own name..ooh…or Beth's! Sanny wouldn't that be like the most awesomest, cutest thing ever? " At that Brittany opened the door, jumping up and down in excitement and Santana's heart gave out for a second. _Oh. My. God!_

"BrBritt, wh..what… y..you…tth" Brittany grinned at her stammering girlfriend who's eyes were almost bulging out as she looked her up and down, jaw dropped, eyebrows raised and clinging onto the doorframe.

"I gather you like my outfit?" the blonde giggled playfully. That was just too much for Santana. She shut her eyes for a second to de-cloud her head, cleared her throat and said in a carefully controlled voice: "Brittany. Britt, honey. Wh..ahem.._why_?"

"Don't you remember?" Brittany asked a little hurt. Forcing her eyes away from Brittany's cleavage, Santana said, somewhat strained:"Remember what?"

"I wore this on our first day of high school, silly!" Brittany explained. "_What?" _Santana cleared her throat again as the `what' had come out about an octave too high. "ahem… I mean, no baby! You most certainly didn't, I think I would remember if I had ever seen you in something like _that_ before!"

Yes, she was positive she had _never _seen her hot girlfriend wearing a skin-tight, skin-_revealing_, catholic-school-girl uniform.

"No no no! I did! I wore a uniform just like this one, 'cause Puck had told me that we had to wear them for high school. Remember? You said you liked it and that it totally fit me." _Aaah, right! _Santana recalled the memory of a slightly different looking uniform though, only _slightly. _

Still feeling a little hot in the face, Santana nodded "Rrright, yeah! But Britt-honey. You get how that one is not the same though?"

"It isn't?" The dancer responded in her most innocent voice. "Oh my! I must have remembered it wrong, then!" she smirked at the awestruck girl still standing a safe distance away from her and turned around on her heals. Before Santana could react she had already grabbed her bag and was halfway down the stairs.

The Latina stirred. "Wh…what? Wait. WAIT! BRITTANY SUSAN PIERCE! YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THE HOUSE LIKE THAT!" The Latina was horrified by how much she had just sounded like her own mother. But what was even more horrifying than that was the thought of Brittany, _her _Brittany, showing up to school in that … _uniform._

Thinking of all the ways she would not survive that incident Santana sprinted down the stairs after one very delighted Brittany. You could hear the hysterical giggles throughout the whole neighborhood when the Latina finally caught up with her in the front yard and, throwing her over her shoulder, successfully carried the "catholic" back into the house to get changed.

"But San…we're gonna be _late_! Hihihi"

* * *

So there's the `now'-part for ya! I hope you enjoyed reading it and have some (more or less) nice things to say to me in your reviews:D thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Okay. so this chapter took a little longer to update but in return it's longer. so..we're good? _:D Enjoy..and please R&R

Disclaimer: I don't own glee

* * *

**Chapter 4 (Now)**

_Still the first day of senior year_

She had finally gotten Brittany to change out of her _uniform_, if somewhat grudgingly on both girls' parts, and they were now pulling into the school parking lot in Santana's new wine red convertible.

As she closed her car door she felt her stomach turn. The feeling was only too familiar to the fiery Latina.

She had felt like this for most of the last two years. She had felt like this because she had known that she'd have to hide her true self from everybody for another day, act tough and bitchy and mean for another day.

But not today. Today the feeling sprang from excitement, cause today she would finally be able to be herself. Today she could walk into school, holding hands with her girlfriend, not having to fake interest in boys, not having to act tough and bitchy.

Well…she was still tough. But not bitchy anymore, no. Santana Lopez wasn't bitchy. She was _sassy_.

She had decided to call it sassy, because it basically meant the same thing as bitchy, only it sounded way more mature and, not to forget, sexy.

And she was a senior now after all, so: _sassy_.

Britt however wouldn't hear of it. She refused to call Santana _sassy_.

Because she, for her part, had found a way better word to call her girlfriend. Yes, Brittany had decided to call her `caliente'.

Santana had just taught her that word two weeks ago, and ever since then, everything had been `caliente' to the dancer. Food, drinks, TV shows, fights between her and Lord Tubbington, Artie's new wheels and… Santana.

The Latina had been flattered at first, but now she wasn't so convinced Brittany really knew what the word meant after all. I mean, come on… what was so `caliente' about some wheel chair wheels with motives of silhouetted dancing figures on them? That wasn't `caliente', that was just depressing!

As Santana went around the car to help Brittany out like the gentlewoman she was, she noticed a girl staring at her. The girl was pretty young, probably a freshman, and blushed the second she saw Santana had seen her look.

She was nothing special. Small, brunette, nervous looking. Just like all the other freshmen who were scurrying towards the school building, eager to start their first year of high school.

And still. Something made the Latina stop in her tracks and watch as the girl looked at her with big eyes, then bowed her head and hurried away, holding on to the straps of her backpack.

Something about her was just so…familiar.

"Babe? Are you okay?" Brittany had apparently managed to get out of the car herself and was now standing next to her, head tilted and a sweet smile on her lips.

"Yyeah..." Santana looked at her girlfriend, who was studying her face with a curious expression on her own. "Yeah sure, Britt. Just … never mind. You ready?" The blonde just grinned and nodded and skipped to her side.

Thanks to Santana's complete indifference toward speed limits, they had actually arrived with five minutes to spare. So now they were lazily strolling towards the school entrance, joined hands dangling between them and happy smiles on their faces.

Santana looked around. There they all were.

Familiar looking seniors, loudly greeting their friends after a long summer apart; extremely cool juniors, thinking they were starting the best year of high school; groups of sophomores , convinced that this year they wouldn't be pushed around as much and overly excited freshmen just trying to take it all in, looking overwhelmed and a little lost.

She didn't know why, but Santana's lips escaped a smile.

"Oh oh oh! Heeeeyy!" Brittany gave a small jump. She had just spotted Mercedes, Tina and Mike who were standing a few feet away talking, and was now running towards them with Santana in tow.

"Hey, giiiirl! How you doin'?" Mercedes hollered excitedly, enveloping Brittany in a tight hug. Tina and Mike both followed suit and gave the blonde a hug as well. "We missed you guys so much!" Britt said, hanging on to Tina's arm. At this the four of them noticed Santana who had just joined them.

"Hey." The Latina gave a half-hearted wave. She was suddenly very nervous again.

Maybe they had changed their minds over the summer? Maybe they had decided that they really _didn't_ accept Santana after all?

But before she could feed her paranoia with any more of her nightmarish thoughts, Mercedes had already closed the distance and was giving the Latina a bone crashing hug while Tina asked: "Hey, Santana! What did _you_ do all summer?"

"Oh, wow. Uum I … we just…uum." Feeling overwhelmed by her friends' warm welcomes, she wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Yeah, Santana. Tell us all about your summer with our girl Brittany, here. I bet it was hot!" Mike grinned suggestively, making Santana raise her eyebrows, Mercedes and Brittany giggle and Tina hit him in the ribs.

"Oooww! The weather! I … I meant the weather was hot, you know, cause with the sun and everything and you know the heat and…" But he trailed off when he saw Tina's look.

Santana finally got why Figgins had thought she was a vampire. _That_ girl could look sca-ry!

Santana just laughed until Brittany went over to her, took her hand and said in a deep voice: "Oh Mike, you have nooo idea!"

Just like Mike and Mercedes, Santana didn't laugh anymore after _that_ statement. She was too busy blushing like crazy and praying to god the blonde would stop her elaborations of their steamy love-life there. She didn't think she would be able to look their friends in the eyes anymore. Some things just shouldn't be shared.

Thankfully she didn't have to find out as the bell rang inside and all five of them started off towards their first class of the day.

_Saved_ by the bell…that was a new one.

* * *

"Kill me, Britt! Kill me now!" Santana knocked her head against her locker while her girlfriend was having a giggling fit next to her.

"What? Why? That was sooo sweet!" The blonde smirked, knowing exactly what a nightmare this was for Santana.

"No! Nuh uh! That was definitely _not_ sweet. _That_ was revenge." Santana shot back horrified, looking up at Brittany with an angry scowl. "Why the hell did you say yes? Did I do something?" she looked almost pleading now. She couldn't believe Brittany was doing this to her. It was just too cruel.

"Oh come on, San. They just want us to feel included and accepted and stuff. Didn't you hear? This is gonna be _so_ much fun." And with that Brittany shoved her last book into her locker, kissed the pouting Latina on the cheek and turned on her heels, before skipping down the hallway and shooting Santana a happy smirk over her shoulder.

Sighing deeply, she pushed herself away from her locker and started going into the opposite direction, towards her final class of the day.

Santana couldn't help but disagree. Going `couple mini golfing' did _really_ not sound like fun. Especially if the other couple consisted of Rachel and Finn.

The things she wouldn't do for her girlfriend…

* * *

It was 3:30pm and Santana was on her way to her car.

She and Brittany had actually said they'd meet at their lockers after their last class, but apparently Britt had forgotten or somehow gotten sidetracked again.

The Latina didn't mind that her girlfriend frequently forgot where and when they were supposed to meet, because it wasn't important.

It wasn't like she forgot on purpose and so Santana didn't mind.

With any boy she would have probably gotten some sort of inferiority complex, thinking he was standing her up because he didn't like her, and then gone all Lima Heights on his sorry ass.

But not with Brittany.

Because with her Santana never felt inferior. She didn't feel superior either, she felt just right.

There was no doubt in her mind that Brittany loved her and that she loved Brittany and that neither of them would ever consciously do something to hurt the other. It was the best feeling in the world.

Thinking about all this she hadn't even noticed that she'd reached her car already, until it was right in front of her. But there was no Brittany.

Santana craned her neck to see if the blonde beauty might have simply mixed up which car was hers – it was new after all –, but she couldn't see her trade mark ponytail anywhere on the parking lot, so she leaned against the side of her convertible and took out her phone to text Brittany where she was.

After pushing send the Latina put her cell in the pocket of her dark purple skirt and threw her purse on the backseat.

She and Brittany hadn't worn their cheerleading uniforms to school today, as Santana had just been glad to get the dancer out of the _other_ one and hadn't thought she could handle seeing her in an equally short skirt all day long with that image burned into her mind.

And also, having experienced an overwhelming sense of freedom and individuality since her coming out, she just hadn't felt like dressing the way she had all throughout her high school career.

It had just felt so fake and oppressing to her and she hadn't wanted to look like a ton of other girls, when she felt so uniquely herself and not at all the need to be _one of them_ for the first time since she had joined the Cheerios three years ago.

As she was leaning there, extremely cool and casual, against her car, playing with the hem of her skirt and deep in thought, she saw her again. The brunette freshman that had ogled her that morning.

The girl seemed even smaller now, or maybe it was just the immense weight of, what seemed like, a thousand new books, pulling her down. Santana watched as the girl came closer, apparently too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the Latina's eyes following her.

Like she had this morning before school, Santana was haunted by a feeling of familiarity upon watching that girl and she couldn't for the life of her figure out where it came from.

Before she could spend any more time thinking about it however, something vibrated in the pocket of her skirt.

Slightly frazzled, the Latina pulled out her phone. Brittany had texted her back.

(3:46pm)

_:D sorry, hon. Was sure we said we'd meet there. i caught a ride with sam and Mercedes. OMG, San. They're totally together! You coming? Hurry! They're like feeding each other. I'm gonna snap a photo…oh wait I can't while I'm texting you. Gotta hang up…or whatever you call it when you stop texting…love you, calienty! _

Santana smiled at her new nick name. It was _definitely_ more original than s_weety._ That was for sure. She'd have to find a cute new nick name to call Brittany, too. And, oh my god, yes, she was sooo cheesy and incredibly whipped.

Since there was no Glee-club meeting today, they had all agreed to grab a bite at BreadStix after school to catch up on each other's summer stories.

As she really wanted to see Mercedes feeding Sam, Santana got into her car and started the engine. Looking over her shoulder to back out of her parking space, she saw the freshmen-girl walk by her car, and as she looked up their eyes met.

Santana couldn't tell why, but suddenly she shot this little girl, this little, _totally freshmen_ girl, a smile. Warm and honest and reassuring.

And it made the Latina weirdly happy, when she saw the girl's slumped over body straighten up and her eyes sparkle as she hurried on, out of the way of her car. It made her happy, knowing she had just made that girl's day.

When Santana got to BreadStix she immediately spotted her friends. They were by far the loudest, weirdest and most colorful group of them all, and she loved it.

Unable to suppress a broad grin, the Latina went over to their booth and slipped in beside a very excited looking Brittany, as she said a general "hi" to the Glee-clubbers.

"You _just_ missed it! They only finished their Tiramisu like two seconds ago!" Brittany whispered, leaning close to the Latina. "It's okay, though. I filmed it."

"Couldn't figure out how to put it on picture mode?" The Latina smirked knowingly.

Britt grinned back nodding and leaned her head onto her girlfriend's shoulder, lovingly stroking her knee under the table.

Santana took a deep breath and directed her attention toward their group of friends.

Before she could catch what they were talking about however, Brittany turned her head and asked softly.

"I'm really happy you're happy, Sanny. You are, right?"

Santana looked at the blonde answering sincerely. "Yeah. Yeah, I really am."

"Good. I was worried there for a second." Brittany sighed relieved and made to put her head back on Santana's shoulder, but the Latina furrowed her brows and asked, tilting her head:

"Why were you worried?" she watched as the blonde's lips turned up in a sweet smile.

"Well, because this morning you were a bit quiet with our friends and like you totally zoned out on me when we got out of the car. Just wondering what had you so distracted."

Santana shook her head slightly, in awe of the perceptiveness of her beautiful girl. Amazing.

"Uuum, well… I just saw this girl this morning. This freshman girl and, I don't know, she just reminded me of someone…I actually saw her again just now, in the parking lot. Still can't figure out what it is that's so familiar about her, though." Santana answered thoughtfully.

Brittany, who had taken a sip of her coke, was putting down her drink slowly and said matter-of-factly: "Oh, you mean mini-Santana? She's cute."

The Latina was taken aback at this. "Mini-Santana?"

Brittany looked up at her and nodded. "Yeah. She's _so_ you on your first day." She smiled at the brunette's awed expression.

And right then it hit her.

Brittany was right. She _was_ her.

The awed and overwhelmed expression on her face, the skinny, childish figure and, not to forget, the backpack.

It was so obvious.

And as weird as it was, Santana loved knowing, that somewhere out there was a girl, coming home from her first day of high school, with her whole journey still ahead of her. And she loved knowing, that this little girl would probably make a lot of mistakes and go through a rollercoaster of emotions in the following years, but that she would be okay in the end.

Cause she was. Santana was okay now.

No. She was perfect. Her girlfriend, her friends, her inner calm.

Just perfect.

* * *

Lemme know what you think, guys! really appreciate it! thanks so much


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late up-date! School's killing me right now! But in mid-june I'll be done for good, so stick with me! Please R&R! Thanks so much...

Disclaimer: Glee gehört mir nicht - I don't own Glee!

* * *

**Chapter 5 (Then)**

_4__th__ week of freshmen year…_

„Perfect!" Santana growled.

She was hurrying down the hallway of McKinley High, trying to get the strap of her duffle-bag back over her shoulder, while avoiding crashing her purse into the lockers she was passing, or her own hip, on her way to the gym.

As of the second day of high school the Latina had exchanged her back-pack for a cute black leather purse in order to right her fashion mistake, hoping no one would remember it, but found it was more challenging than she had originally thought.

The little handles of the purse, sophisticatedly hung over her inner elbow, just didn't have the hold her back-pack had had.

It made turning quickly, hopping excitedly or running really difficult and not to mention incredibly annoying, as the purse would just fly about uncontrollably, bumping into things, other students or even Santana.

And occasionally even her stuff would fall out to her deep embarrassment.

Right now was such a moment where she cursed the purse, as it was dangling infuriatingly against Santana's hip, while she was running through her almost empty school, fighting with her heavy Cheerios duffle-bag, already late for cheerleading practice.

She, Brittany and some girl named Quinn, who Brittany had taken an instant liking to when meeting her at the sign-up-sheet, and Santana pretended to as well - mainly to keep her eyes on the shorter blonde and make sure she didn't steal her best friend - had passed the Cheerios try-outs and were now proud owners of the red and white uniform that was going to make their lives at McKinley awesome and perfect.

All three of them had been over the moon when the slightly sadistic seeming Coach Sue Sylvester had announced that they were on the squad, Brittany squealing and clapping her hands and Quinn and Santana smiling cockily and holding their heads high.

The Latina had prayed they'd both get on the team, although she had actually been more worried about herself than about Brittany, because there were a lot of things Brittany could do well, but dancing wasn't one of them, dancing, and bending her body like a cheerleader was required to, she did unearthly amazing.

Santana not so much. She knew she could bust out some nice moves when she and Brittany were playing around, putting on their own private dance show to whatever was playing on MTV just for the fun of it, she just wasn't quite sure she could rise to the immense expectations, high school cheerleaders under Coach Sylvester had to meet.

Not getting on the squad, however, had not even been an option for the Latina. She wasn't born yesterday, after all. She knew how things worked in high school and she wasn't about to disappear somewhere in the wide range of the social ladder for the next four years.

She would start and end those years on the freakin' top and make them the best fucking time of her life. Even if she had to suffer through the torturous amount of laps Coach would undoubtedly sentence her to for being late, not caring that it was in fact impossible to be on time – which was right after her last class on Friday, no lunch break - when Santana had to get her stuff from her locker all the way across campus because Coach hadn't assigned her one in the locker room yet.

According to Coach it was an ethnic experiment. According to Santana it was just plain sadistic and racist. 'Radistic' to be exact. A term Brittany had created when she had helped Santana wash up after puking from exhaustion after last practice.

Go High School! …

* * *

Like she had anticipated, practice had been brutal.

Coach Sylvester had made her run, what seemed like, a thousand laps after she had let the others go and yelled at her non-stop. Admittedly, she yelled at everybody, but Santana had the strong feeling it was at her more than at others.

The Latina didn't know if being singled out like that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. It was however unnerving and exhausting.

To her own astonishment Santana hadn't had to puke this time, though, and it made her weirdly proud of herself.

Still grossly drenched and wheezing from the 'workout', Santana got back to the locker room to get her towel before hitting the showers. But it wasn't where she had left it on top of her duffle-bag in front of Brittany's locker. In fact her duffle-bag seemed to have vanished as well.

Frantically looking around, the Latina's eyes scanned the whole room. _Please, no! Pleeease! They can't have taken it, right? This can't be some shit-hazing thing, right? _

It wasn't there. Not at the door, not under the benches, not in front of Quinn's locker, or Hanna's, or Tanya's or Tiffany's or Santana's, or…! Santana's?

She couldn't believe her eyes. There, in big letters, on the locker right next to Brittany's stood 'Lopez'. Santana crossed the distance in awe and found the locker was unlocked. When she opened it, she discovered her duffle-bag had been stuffed into the small space and her towel was lying in the little compartment on top.

A huge grin spread across her face and she let out a triumphant 'ha'. _I've done it!_ She had passed whatever test the cheerleading Coach had had so much fun making her undergo.

Grabbing her towel, she skipped towards the showers, her previous exhaustion almost forgotten, when she noticed a figure leaning against the door-frame of the Coach's office. Sue was watching her with the air of a smile on her lips, her arms tightly crossed in front of her chest.

Santana stopped dead and – after a second of staring, in which she prayed this wasn't another test – shot the Coach a tentative grin.

Coach Sylvester raised her eyebrows and moved closer to where Santana was standing, blaring her nostrils. When she was literally only an inch away from the young girl, towering intimidating over her she whispered in an authoritarian voice "Hit the showers, Pukes-a-lot! You reek worse than if your whole people were locked together in a stinky cellar without access to water for a month after one of those tomato-fights you seem to love so much over there."

Without another word Santana turned and walked to the shower room.

It was true. Coach was radistic and ridiculous and unnecessary cruel, and she would probably not survive a staring contest with her.

But today that didn't matter, because today Santana had won. She had won Coach's respect – well, or whatever equaled respect when talking about Sue Sylvester – and that meant that, at least for the time being, she had accomplished her goal.

She was on top.

And lord help the poor soul that ever dared to try and push her off again.

* * *

Brittany had wanted to wait for her after practice, but Mrs. Pierce had told her she had to come home right after school and help get the house ready, because her grandparents were coming to visit over the weekend.

Santana had been a bit disappointed that they couldn't walk home together and talk about their day, but Brittany had told her she should just come over and help her when Coach let her go, that way they could talk _and_ be finished earlier _and _still have time to get ice-cream and go to their swing-set.

The swing-set wasn't really theirs. It was just one of many in the park. But since it was exactly halfway between their two houses – Brittany and Santana had actually measured it once, leaving their houses at the exact same time and counting their steps, Santana making slightly bigger ones to match Brittany's, until they met each other at the swing-set – and they had basically lived there during middle school, they had declared it theirs and Santana always chased away anyone who sat on _their_ swings when they got there.

So now Santana was on her way to Brittany's. She didn't really like the idea of having to clean up _anything_, but she really wanted to go to the park with Brittany and just have a girls' day with her again. Between their classes, homework and cheerleading practice there really hadn't been any time left for some Britt and Sanny time lately. And Santana just wouldn't have that.

When she got to the Pierce home, she could already here Brittany's mum shout instructions through the house. Santana grinned broadly. She loved the Pierces! They were all a lot like Brittany. Just as bubbly and nice and welcoming, even though, of course, Brittany was special.

She opened the squeaky fence door and strolled along the little path that led through the small garden to the front door.

"Sanny!" Brittany's voice came from above her. Santana looked up and saw the blonde standing in one of the windows, holding a blanket out.

"Hey, Britt! You look like Mother Hulda! You gonna make it snow?" shielding her face from the evening sun with her right arm, the Latina wrinkled her forehead and grinned up at her best friend jokingly.

"I could, you know! You want me to demonstrate?" Brittany played along and before Santana could protest she was showered with little white feathers, flying from the blanket above her, which the blonde was now shaking furiously.

"NO! Britt, stop it!" Santana squealed, dropping her duffle-bag and her purse, and started running around the garden in circles, her hands above her head.

Brittany giggled and sing-sanged: "Abracadabra! Snow, snow, sn- "

"BRITTANY SUSAN PIERCE! WHAT IN HEAVENS NAME ARE YOU DOING?" Santana froze where she had been standing right underneath Brittany's window, when she heard the familiar voice boom.

Anna Pierce was leaning out of a window to Brittany's left and she looked furious.

"Oh oh!" Brittany gulped at the same time as Santana, and then both Pierces vanished from their windows. Not able to make out what was probably being screamed inside, Santana hurriedly jogged to the front door to save Brittany from the wrath of her mother. Anna was usually the sweetest person, but when Brittany's dad's parents came to visit she was more like a fury. A very clean-freak-like fury.

As she jumped up the stairs, Brittany's little sister Emily was skidding past her, her eyes wide and shaking her head frantically, as if to say 'run while you still can'.

"- can't do that Brittany! You understand? Your grandma and grandpa expect everything to be perfect and that feather layer in our yard is NOT perfect!"

"I'm sorry mum! I wasn't thinking. Santana and I were just playing around…" Brittany said meekly as Santana reached the pair. They were standing in the hallway in front of Brittany's room and Anna had her hands on her hips while Brittany's head was bowed to avoid her glaring stare.

"Yeah, we're really sorry! It was my fault, actually. I dared her to show me she could make it snow like Mother Hulda! I'm sorry Mrs. Pierce." She was glad when she saw that Anna had slightly calmed down as she turned toward her. She looked more tired than anything.

"Wha-?" Brittany was about to say, when Santana linked their arms and dragged her off, shouting over her shoulder "We'll get right on cleaning that up! Sorry!" before pulling Brittany down the stairs and toward the kitchen.

"You didn't dare me, Sanny. Why did you say that?" Brittany asked baffled while Santana got two trash bags out of a drawer.

"Did you _see_ your mum's eyes? They were like daggers! I'm tellin' you, she's definitely part Latina! I mean with _that_ fierce temperament we're lucky we made it down the stairs before she breathed fire on us like a dragon! Or threw a sauce pan like my abuela last Christmas!" Santana smirked, holding out one of the bags to Brittany.

The blonde took it and giggled "Hihi, that was awesome! Your uncle was like a ninja, he ducked so quick!"

Both chuckling at the memory, they made their way out to the mess in the garden.

They were quite proud of themselves when Mrs. Pierce came out to get them a little while later and said they had done a good job. They were even able to convince her to leave the two 'snow'-angles they had made in the middle of the lawn.

As they were finally released and on their way to the park, Brittany hopped happily along Santana's side, humming the melody to Arielle's 'Part of your World' and smiling sweetly, while Santana was lost in her thoughts.

_That was so awesome! But totally childish. Making snow-angels! What are we? 5? I need to talk to Britt about acting more like High School kids. I wouldn't want anybody to make fun of her! Or me. But she looks so happy! And it really was fun…maybe it's okay to act like we're still little when nobody's around. Hmm… how is she still so happy-go-lucky like she's still a little kid? Hihi, well, she probably is inside! Look at her go! _

Brittany had skipped ahead a bit on the side-walk and was now dancing along to her own voice, twirling and gliding and beckoning Santana to join her.

Santana laughed lightly and after a few minutes in which Brittany playfully danced circles around her, she took her hand and danced along.

So what if they were still happy kids! At least they'd be laughed at together.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! Please review and let me know what you think :)


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys. So so so sorry for the unearthly long wait for this chapter. But I'm done with school now and I hope I'll be able to update faster from now on. I hope you enjoy the story. R&R**  
**

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters.

* * *

**Chapter 6 (Then)**

_Still the 4__th__ week of freshmen year, same day…_

"Aaaaaah! Hihi! Higher, Sanny!" Brittany squealed.

Santana and Brittany were at their swing-set and Santana was pushing Brittany higher and higher, happily watching her best friend having the time of her life.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Britt! You're gonna swing right over the top and fall down!" the Latina laughed, taking a step to the right as Brittany came swooshing back. She was now leaning against one of the wooden poles of the swing-set, her arms crossed over her chest and smiling brightly when she came into Brittany's view.

Brittany pouted, but couldn't hold it for long as Santana started making funny faces at her.

After she made a particular goofy one, looking cross-eyed while making a duck-face and holding her head crooked, Brittany had to laugh so hard, she almost fell off the swing.

"Haha! See! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Santana joked, coming over and gripping the chains of Britt's swing to carefully slow it down to a stop.

Brittany just smiled at her and waited for her to stop the swing for good.

When she had managed to slow it down enough, Brittany threw herself into her arms and tackled her to the sandy ground.

"AAH! EEEEW! Britt, now we're so dirty!" Santana scolded, trying to get Brittany – who was lying on top of her – off her body, so they could stand up and brush the dirt off their clothes. But Brittany didn't seem to mind the sand. She just hugged Santana even tighter and giggled.

"I love this place! It makes me so happy!" she mumbled into Santana's hair.

Santana felt goose bumps erupt on her neck and squeezed Brittany back before rolling over and getting up.

"Me too, come on! I gotta get you home. Your grandparents will be there any minute and I think your mum's gonna have a heart-attack if you're not back soon!" She said, holding out a hand at Brittany to help her up.

Brittany nodded and took the hand. She jumped up, but didn't let go of Santana. Instead she pulled their joined hands up in the air and tried to twirl the smaller girl around.

Santana caught on too late and stumbled into her best friend.

"Britt, what are you doing?" The Latina laughed again.

"Dancing home with you. What else am I gonna do?"Brittany said cheerfully and began to sing and dance, while they were walking towards the exit of the park.

"_Come on, let's twist again - like we did last summer. - Come oooon let's twist again, - like we did last year." _

Santana shook her head in amusement and started singing and skipping along.

"_Do you remember when – thiiings were really hummin' ? – Come ooon lets twist again – twistin' time is heeere."_

"_**Yeah round and round and up and down we goooooo again…"**_ they belted out together.

"_Oh baby make me know you love me sooooo – and then –" _Brittany grabbed Santana's arm with both of her hands and pulled Santana close to her, singing the line overdramatically.

Santana laughed nervously and continued the song, her mind racing.

_She's so goofy. I love singing and dancing with her. It's so much fun. And she's such a good dancer! But she's always so touchy-feely! I mean, I don't mind or anything. Just sometimes – like now – I think it's weird. I don't know. It _feels_ weird anyway. Whatever. _

They sang and danced until they were out of the park and in the open street leading to Brittany's house again. Santana didn't feel like dancing after she had seen two older looking guys watching them with mocking expressions on their faces.

Brittany didn't mind and happily skipped next to Santana, holding her pinky and smiling until they were back at her home.

* * *

"MUUUM, I'M HOOME!" When Santana got home a bit later than she had agreed on with her mother she expected to be yelled at or at least told off – which she didn't care about since her day with Brittany had been awesome and totally worth being yelled at - but upon entering the dark and quiet living room she thought she might just be lucky this time. Maybe her mum had already gone to bed.

Brittany's grandparents had already arrived when the two best friends had come back from the park earlier this evening and had been insistent that Santana stay and eat dinner with the family. Thrilled to be invited to a Pierce family evening, Santana had called her mother to ask if she could join the Pierces for dinner. She had said yes and they had agreed that she would be home by ten.

It was a quarter to eleven.

"Mum?" Santana called quieter while turning toward the kitchen.

_Nice, she's already asleep. I wonder if she fell asleep before ten. Then I could just tell her that I was here on time! What's that?_

When she turned the light in the kitchen on, Santana saw that there was a note on the counter. She went around the kitchen island and picked it up to read it.

**Santana,**

**I'm eating dinner out with someone from work. I'll be back late but your father should be home by half past ten. I hope you had a great time at Brittany's. Talk to you in the morning.**

**Good night, Mija.**

**~Mum~**

Santana laid down the note.

_Dad's home? I didn't see his car in the drive way…maybe I just didn't think to look if it was there._

She went upstairs to see if he was already asleep, but found her parents' bedroom empty.

It wasn't a big surprise that her dad wasn't home when he should be. He was a surgeon at the local hospital and worked long hours.

…_and long weeks and long months._

She understood that his job was important and that he was saving lives and stuff, but she still missed him sometimes. Especially when her and her mother had an argument about something her dad might have been on her side with.

However, she was used to his absence and - after all - her mum was still home all the time anyway. She used to be a doctor too, but she took a break when Santana was born and only worked at the hospital if there was a serious emergency and they needed all hands on deck.

Although…_she _has_ been working more lately. Maybe she'll even have to work on the weekend! Then I'd have the entire house to myself. That would be sooo cool. Britt and I could make a movie night in the living room and stay up really late. Uh! Or we could through a party! That would totally show everybody how awesome we are! Then we'd be on top for good. I have to ask mum if she has to work this weekend. _

Excited about the perspective of her potential upcoming freedom, Santana skipped up the stairs and got ready for bed. After all, she wouldn't want her dad to come home and see her still out of bed past eleven. He would tell her mum about it and then she would get into trouble and that when she had _just_ lucked out on the 'breaking curfew' thing.

She was in bed within ten minutes but couldn't sleep for some reason. Probably because she missed the usual clatter and music of her mum doing the dishes to her favorite Jazz-album before going to bed.

She tossed and turned and when she looked at her alarm clock some time later it read 00:43.

Her dad still wasn't home. And neither was her mum.

* * *

So? Did you like it? I know it's not one of my longer chapters but it's not supposed to say more at this point in the story. More coming up soon...I hope. Review if you liked, review if you didn't :D XO


End file.
